Chapter VII
Failed Hike - Part I
Euphemia leisurely stretched on her chair in her office. She loved every second of planning her marriage, but even then, she couldn't deny that constant work was tiring her. Cornelia was helping her with everything she could focusing mostly on security, a field she was a hell of an expert. Euphy could still see how uncomfortable her older sister got whenever topic got to Suzaku. She could only hope that Cornelia would get to tolerate him at some point in life.
Speaking of whom, her eyes wandered to her clock. It said 4:47 p.m., meaning Suzaku now was having his etiquette lessons, with barely a few minutes of break after another of his classes. It seemed that tutors Schneizel recommended had decided to speed up his education. Suzaku was having a bad time with them, lack of proper education after Britannia invaded meant that while Euphemia was receiving best of the best education, he lost a few years in opportunities, equating it to almost a half of his life. She was surprised to hear that he started to progress quickly, only explanation she got was some kind of surge inside him, driving to improve himself for her sake.
Princess then heard a light knock on her doors, followed by a figure entering the room. She instantly recognized Cornelia by the color of her hair.
"How are you holding up here?" Her sister worried, "Is there anything I could help you with?"
"No, nothing I couldn't do." Euphemia replied, smile appearing on her face. After she convinced her sister to not do anything against Suzaku, Cornelia was beginning to take small steps to reconcile with her younger sister. She would appear twice or thrice a day and help with anything she could reach. Before she could say anything on that topic, Euphy noticed something sticking out of her pocket, a tiny piece of fabric hanging on keychain. "Don't tell me you're already leaving. Is there another attack?"
Cornelia smiled back, though the smile looked very fake, "No, nothing of sorts. I ordered a major check-up tomorrow for our Knightmare forces in Tokyo Settlement. Maybe I should do a few in other garrisons, Black Knights continue to use our weaknesses against us in the worst manner possible, and I'd rather they couldn't do that."
Another day, another battle. How did Cornelia keep up with that?
Cornelia definitely wasn't checking her own forces, which she shipped to Area 11, so it removed any worry over Gloucesters. "You're getting too worried sister. Our Sutherlands do the job just as good as before. I'm certain that even with…"
"No, that is not what I'm worried about." Cornelia stepped inside, closing the doors behind her, but her posture spoke that she still planned to leave soon. "Local officers are getting extremely uncooperative."
"What do you mean? Aren't your orders still executed as always?"
"Many of them are not professionals and only used their family connections to get here. It was fear of me that forced even such vermin to not go against me. But," she sighed, "all this thing with recent events makes them too unreliable. Organization in our units is faltering even with no enemy advancing upon us. These corrupt idiots are spending their time drinking or whatever they are doing instead of fixing the issues at hand. Some of them think that the rumors their clearly not intelligent friends are spreading allow them to ignore recommendations I issue!" Cornelia closed her eyes, sighing in resignation. She caught herself from speaking more than what she said. "Sorry, Euphie, I am getting really worked up. Didn't have to spill it upon you."
"No, it's ok, sister." Euphemia embraced her older sister, hugging her softly before releasing. "We always must have somebody to listen, and that's why I'm here for you, just as you're for me."
"I'm grateful for this. Maybe if I can't let myself off this hook, you should follow my advice and get a small vacation for yourself. Stay safe, Euphy!"
And with that, Euphemia was alone again in her office, looking through the papers and plans, signing or stamping them. She couldn't tell why Cornelia was so worked up improving the army. Though her sister liked to address military issues, what she was doing now was over the board even for her metrics.
Vacation did sound nice, and also she could may use it to meet Suzaku with Lelouch…
She went out of her trance only twenty minutes later. "Have I daydreamed for this long?" Euphemia asked nobody in particular. On the bright side – she was almost done with everything she had on her table.
Suzaku entered her office, signs of weariness on his face showing. The moment his eyes met hers, she could see him lighten. "How are you, Euphie? You look tired."
"You're the one to say. You look like you were dragged through a bunch of spikes"
"I wouldn't be surprised if it was in today's program, really."
"Say, Suzaku," She lightened up, idea popping in her head, "do you mind going out with me for a trip tomorrow?"
Kallen made her way to Black Knights mobile base, relieved from being anywhere near Milly, who was turning Student Council into her personal torture room. Zero called to her about the incoming meeting. She only took a few minutes to get ready and leave from the Academy. It would take her another ten to twenty minutes to get near warehouse, giving her enough time to think through what they were to do next.
She was one of the first to make it. Her eyes fell upon Zero, who was sitting on a couch, patiently waiting for others to come. In the meantime, she could hear him speak with Diethard.
"Another two?" Zero asked. It was nice to see that even people from the Settlements themselves supported the Black Knights. "Good. How important they are?"
"One of them is a Japanese, Sir. She is proficient in martial arts, skillful infiltrator and assassin. Perfect asset for our organization." Diethard spoke, glancing at the files he had about newcomers. "For some reason, there is also some student who wanted to support us financially and with information, but-"
Zero raised his hand, acknowledging his work and grabbing a copy for himself. "Kallen, you're already arrived?"
"Yes, but may I ask you something?" As he nodded to her, she continued, "Why me?"
She didn't specify anything, but Zero understood what was she asking. "It wouldn't do for Zero to be the only representative of the Black Knights at the wedding. Grabbing Ohgi or anybody other would be a bad decision. You may think you're the most useful in Guren, but it won't do." He took a black King off the chessboard, toying with him a little before placing back. As he continued to speak, he placed all the figures in place, aside from a pair of black Knights and a Queen. "Zero is a leader, but he is nobody without people behind him. Kallen, you are my Squad Commander, renowned in countless battles. One day you will have to appear in public, and you have to be ready for that. You will be a more familiar and trusted face, since your identity is harder to fake."
She blinked a couple times. He has… changed. More open with his thoughts. Before she could ask more, Tohdoh and his Four Holy Swords emerged from the outside, later joined by Ohgi, Yoshida and others, even Tamaki. Only Diethard was as usual, professionally hiding any emotions behind a mask of media man, while others were more vocal in their worried opinions regarding any talks with Britannian royals. Kallen was far from being incredibly observant, but even Tohdoh's mask was cracking under his thoughts.
"Hey-y, what's up? How did it go?" Tamaki wasted no time to speak. Zero used this opportunity to start, seeing that everybody arrived.
"Now that everybody is here, I have an announcement to make. A few days ago, I met up and spoke with Princess Euphemia. I base my decision on my knowledge about her and on that conversation. Regarding marriage between Kururugi and Third Princess: the Black Knights will support her and will not be against her plans." Zero proclaimed.
Reactions were mixed, though some still were in uproar. Nobody trusted Britannia too much, and not even recent leaks were making Euphemia's message too trustful. Lelouch didn't caught Tohdoh letting small sigh, relieved that his former student wouldn't be gotten rid of in a shameful way. Still, he couldn't be not cautious towards his former student.
"But he's a traitor, and she's an offspring of that asshole. Why should we ignore them?" Chiba didn't bother to stiff her anger at the couple.
Deithard hardened his gaze. "This softness could work against us. Zero, are you certain we should simply sit and allow them to be in spotlight of entire Britannia?"
"I am. In fact, me and Kallen are invited as honorary guests by Euphemia. I did not decline her invitation." Zero replied, angering quite a few of new members, especially the ones from JLF.
"But that could be a trap! We could never trust Cornelia, she's organizing the security for wedding! Maybe she's trying to get her revenge this way?" Ohgi pleaded. While he did bear a lot of respect for commoners in Britannia especially after meeting and developing feelings towards Chigusa, he was not willing to extend that to the Royal Family as well.
"Trust me, they won't. We will have Zero Squad on standby either way near the event." He replied casually. Euphemia was simply far too honest to use such methods, and he could be certain that if it came to that, Cornelia would not go this far against him for all her pride and love for her younger sister.
"So why would we have Zero Squad around them?"
"Euphemia might not have realized it yet, but she stirred a hornet's nest. Security can't be enforced only because Cornelia wants it. We must be careful here."
Rakshata hummed, "And for that we should also retrofit a few systems on our Gekka's. I think we could try a few field tests with Guren tomorrow."
"Fantastic!" Kallen was excited about any news of improving her Guren further. "Where will we conduct them?"
"Near Kanto Range." Zero replied instead, shifting his head to face the scientist, "Rakhsata, did you really achieved what you were telling me about?"
"Yes, Zero," Rakshata was grinning widely, being far more cheerful than usual. "My team is ready to start implementing Gefjun disturbers on the Gekkas after we test them on Guren. If they are perfectly compatible and if Guren is undisturbed themselves by it – we will make a huge progress."
Zero nodded in support. If he could sneak his elite units wherever he wanted, it would be a nice instrument to wield.
Meeting continued, people speaking about seemingly countless topics and issues they were facing. Kallen patiently waited for all of them to end, before coming close to Zero.
"How are we even planning to enter that wedding? Cornelia held us at gunpoint every time you appeared near her, what would stop her now?"
"We won't march straight in." Zero replied, "Instead, I will use an invitation under another name, just the same way you will under the name of Kallen Stadtfield with Lelouch Lamperouge."
"Wait, how do you know I've got two invitations? Hell, how did you learned about that Brit?" She asked astonished. She was countless times him perform, yet she was speechless wherever he brought up something he couldn't've ever learned. No matter how many times Kallen observed, it still felt weird.
"Easy – I directly asked her, after I learned that you're invited." Zero shrugged. He didn't lie, in reality he just had to talk with Euphemia over the phone about it. Entire situation was reminding a typical day back before mother was… Better not to think about it, those times are long gone. He struggled not to visibly twitch. "After you enter the party, in 30 minutes you will leave to get your uniform on. Sayoko will find you with it in the bag. About that time, I will appear on the scene as well, so it wouldn't be strange for all to forget that any girl under the name of Kallen Stadtfield had ever been here."
"But what of that Brit? I can't trust Lelouch! What if he realizes who I am?" She bursted out. Realizing how loud she was starting to speak she switched back to a hushed tone. "I-I mean, he isn't really a Japanese and he himself always denied every opportunity to resist Britannia. Lelouch is pretty much an obedient Imperial lapdog-"
Her speech was interrupted by Zero, who gave her a copy from his hand. She took it, slowly bringing herself to read it. "Occupation: student, gambler…informant? He is the one who gave us intel on Refrain circles in Tokyo? Since when Lelouch is one of the members of the Black Knights?! He never told me anything or even signaled readiness to join! Are you certain that this information is not fake!"
Zero stiffed a laugh. "Who would? None of us reveals who we truly are, as we're limited by both the society itself and Britannian tyranny. It's up to each of us to uphold the masks we created for ourselves."
Kallen was surprised by this news. Never thought he could grow back some of that spine. Maybe my slap returned some brains to his head.
"I don't like that guy. Fawkes, was that his name?" Colonel Arley spoke, his tone quiet. Only a few of his co-conspirators were present with him, fearing to be discovered by Cornelia's men and by their other conspirators. "He tries to interfere and control every single our move. At least two of his agents tried to spy on my regiment! It doesn't help that Cornelia is sticking her nose wherever she wants, but now we have a split in between our ranks…"
Conspirators shifted in their seats, fearful of possibility of their elimination. "Merely two weeks have passed, but he's already taking leadership role in our group. He is an émigré and he has connections with our enemy's intelligence from E.U. and Chinese Federation, we can't trust his loyalties." His colleague spoke up, bearing the same worried expression. "Lord Irwin must remove him from any position of power"
"As if… Lord Irwin is convinced that he is essential to our success!" Colonel sighed. They couldn't disregard Lord Irwin, creator of their group and a very influential general with tons of connections. "No, we can't use his help in this matter."
"What if we removed him?" Colonel Beaulard pleaded. "This would solve everything."
"Impossible. It could be traced back to us and add a lot of suspicion from already paranoid Cornelia. We could all fail while failing in our mission of getting rid of that pro-eleven slut…"
"So what do you plan us to do, my Lord?"
"I say… we get rid of them swiftly"
"Hey, it's really beautiful from here!" Shirley exclaimed, climbing eagerly up the hills. Entire Tokyo Settlement with Yokohama Bay opened before them, ocean sparkling with light reflections. "It definitely was worthy of climbing this high."
"Maybe it was, but did we really had to do it?" Lelouch grumbled, his voice tired. He adjusted his backpack, trying to lose the pressure on his spine. "Uhhh, these fireworks are heavy. Rivalz, could you help me with them?"
His friend was looking way more eager than him, even while his stuff was no lighter than Lelouch's. "Oh, come on, it's not that hard! Milly and Shirley are carrying their bags with ease"
He could only groan quietly, as Rivalz rubbed salt into the wound.
"Here we are – on a nice slope of Mt. Kenashi!" Milly exclaimed, dropping her backpack on grass underneath her. "Just look at this landscape!"
The group stopped, each dropping their bags and things each of them carried to this place. The nature was stunning. From that point, one could see most of Asagiri plateau, small cities and towns spread across fields of green.
"Hey, we can even Fuji Mines from here!" Rivalz spoke. Fuji was really the first thing many would look at. While even from this perspective anybody could see almost alien superstructure placed upon it, more of a natural view remained intact than from the side of Tokyo Settlement.
Lelouch could only frown inwardly. He liked the sights, admired endless fields of green and chilly wind brushing his face. Yet, he couldn't feel anything but disgust. He remembered Japan before the war, how untouched, unharmed was the landscapes. While he himself never believed that Mt. Fuji was holy or things related to this belief, the way the mountain was exploited by Britannia was nothing short of humiliation.
"Alright people, let's settle down! Shirley, have you brought tea for us?"
"What tea? I thought you wanted me to bring snacks!" Shirley was confused and a tad disappointed. She didn't want to upset anybody.
"I brought tea," Sayoko appeared not far away from them. She brought down her bag, getting out a gallon of tea. Fresh aroma of recently-brewed sencha tea was light, it could be felt only if a person was taking a sip.
"Thank you!"
Lelouch sighed. Sometimes he forgot how peaceful the life could be. Even with disgust towards how Britannia still governed this place, he couldn't help but feel at home here. Maybe, one day all of them could be this free, with no tyrants sitting above them, peacefully hanging out. Maybe the world his younger sister desired so much wasn't that far off, and in a few years they could-
Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Oh, be careful! These mountains are filled with rocks!" Suzaku spoke, guiding Euphemia through the mountain trails. "It could be sometimes steep."
"But this is the most popular track, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but some of the people out there really like danger."
The couple looked no different from other people, hanging out in commoner clothes. Only a service firearm still present on Suzaku's belt could trigger some response from others. Other students immediately recognized his voice.
"Suzaku? I thought you declined our invitation?" Shirley asked, a bit surprised to see him. "And who's that with you?"
Milly was quick to recognize Euphemia. Afraid of Lelouch being immediately recognized as an Eleventh Prince of the Realm, she motioned to him to hide behind her. As she was leaning in to bow to Euphemia, she was stopped by Lelouch, who approached the princess first.
"Can I talk with you for a moment?" He asked, not dropping her name.
"Of course, but I also want Suzaku to be in as well"
Milly looked worriedly at them. Fate of the Ashford family lied on the fact that they were hiding the Imperial Siblings, and if they were to be recognized and brought back, she and her family could be treated for treason. Just what do you think you're doing?
Lelouch shrugged. Not a minute later, they stood away from the others, far away for them not to eavesdrop. The couple spoke instantly
"Suzaku, I know it may seem strange, but may I present to you my brothe…"
"Euphy, he is that friend I spoke about earlier, you know him as one of your…"
Two looked at one another, in shock. "Wait, you knew this whole time?" They asked, again together. "But how?"
"Stop," Lelouch commanded, "Before any other similar question arises, I met both of you at different moments. Suzaku I've met back in Shinjuku, and Euphy I've met after Kawaguchi Hotel."
"Oh, so that's how… wait, in Shinjuku? I never heard about that!"
Suzaku sighed, "that was because both of us thought that another one of us died. Not a good memory, or something that I would've said after recovering from my wounds."
Lelouch only nodded.
"I see," Euphemia replied. Too many evils were committed that day. "It's great to know that all of you survived that. Maybe together we could make up for the sins committed."
"Prepare to activate the system" Rakshata spoke through intercom, observing the recently brought and painted Guren from a platform nearby. Her team eagerly waited for the first field test of their two-year long project. "Target is prepared, radar activated, all processes online."
Kallen turned on the switch, entering needed value into the computer. Indicator lightened up green, meaning that all conditions are set.
"Ready! 3…" One section in the Guren's back opened up. "2…1… Launching!"
Her Guren activated. Only a small visible green light was indicating something was going on. Rakshata turned to the radar on the target. "It's radars are oblivious to Guren in point-blank range. Kallen, turn up the disrupters higher."
"Higher?"
"Yes. I want to see if the Guren is invisible to any sort of detection."
"Ok." She obliged, turning up the controls. One of Rakshata's scientist then dragged into the room a…mining equipment?
"Why is that bulky thing over here? How's that gonna find Guren?"
"It's a Sakuradite vein detector. While in it's usual configuration it wouldn't be able to find anything armored that uses this fuel, this one is recalibrated. It's pretty much has the same accuracy as some of the radars on Great Britannia Class Battleship. If even it won't be able to properly calculate the size of Guren – this will be an absolute win for us."
They waited in anticipation as it was placed and activated. With a heavy scratch, it started looking for any signs of sakuradite in the room.
After a very long minute, it finally started to beep. "Oh, it found something, though it seems to be very small."
"What?!" Rakshata exclaimed, furious that it wasn't that good. "Let me look at the data." And true to her subordinate's word, something was picking up on the radar, size of a bucket standing a few meter above the ground.
"Is this glitched?" She wandered aloud. "Guren is clearly standing!"
"Maybe it floats?" one of them asked, but it clearly wasn't the reason.
"Could it be that something reflects the signal? But that's impossible!"
As they were deciding on the problem, one of the scientists came close to Guren in search of answers. The answer became obvious immediately – as the Knightmare was freshly repainted, somebody forgot a bucket on it. "So was it the reason for my Guren to be shining on their radars? Ha! That's clearly a success."
"Miss Chawla, do you think we could get it to fly next?"
"Hm… Everything is possible. We already have a project for that." She mused, pressing her pipe. "Experiment has ended. Collect the data and be ready to leave in an hour."
On that note Kallen left the facility for a small break on fresh air.
"Lelouch, I wanted to discuss something with you. Since Suzaku knows about your heritage, I think we can speak freely." Euphemia spoke quieter than usual, though he could see it was out of secrecy, she was a bit too cheerful. "Our with Suzaku marriage is a possibility we could use to make an announcement about creating a special administrative zone around Mt. Fuji for all Japanese and Britannians to live freely within Area 11. Do you think it would be a great idea to announce it before or in process?"
He was dumbfounded. A special administrative zone? How would it even work? Or, rather, he doubted if it even could work, since he was well aware about the system.
Before he could respond, an explosion rang out a few meters away from them. The trio ducked, receiving no damage from a poor shot, looking up afterwards. A group of Sutherlands was making it's way to them, all painted in navy blue and with crimson marks on their arms. Their guns were at the ready, all pointed at them with anti-personnel munitions.
"Be grateful, Britannia!" Their leader spoke through the speakers, "We came to cleanse you!"
A/N: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Never planned to post this so late (og plan was to be posted before 25th of December)
Have you ever heard about Koliada? Tried searching it in Google to better explain it to you, most of whom are from Anglophone countries, but found nothing. Simply put, Koliada, or more specifically "koliaduvannia", is an old traditional way of spreading the word of "Christ is born!" to the people on the streets by singing folk songs. This was very popular in Ukraine, at least before USSR was created, in which it was punished by law.
This is a great way of preserving people's culture and improving a general mood of the people you may have never heard about before (also, old traditional outfits are nice, have to say that)
That's pretty much what I and my friends have been doing for the last five days until 30st of December. It was very beneficial financially, but my voice broke and my throat is aching painfully for a few days.
Btw, I've decided that this story I have to end and finish it faster than I'm currently doing in this temp of writing, so that's where the date comes in. I hope that before mid-April this will be finished. During this, 1-2 chapters of updates for other stories will be posted.